Sir Edmund Hillary, 88; New Zealand mountaineer was first to climb to the top of Mt. Everest (Jan. 11)

Steve Fossett, millionaire adventurer missing since September 2007, ruled legally dead (Feb. 15) by an Illinois court. Wreckage of his plane and his remains found near Mammoth Lakes, Calif., in October

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Artists and architects

Robert Rauschenberg, 82; artist changed the course of American and European art with his hybrid forms of painting and sculpture (May 12)

Hamilton Jordan, 63; political aide to President Carter and the youngest White House chief of staff (May 20)

Jesse Helms, 86; former North Carolina senator who for half a century infuriated liberals with his campaign tactics and maddened presidents of both parties with his use of senatorial privilege (July 4)